From the controversial---but still somewhat useful---Tibetan Healing Chöd website:

The Tsogley Rinpoche Trengwa (or simply Rinchen Trengwa) is the main long Chöd ritual practiced by Kagyu and Nyingma lamas and yogis. Those practicing either the Machik or Nyingtik Chöd, Drikung Chöd, or any of dozens of other terma traditions including the Dudjom Tersar, rely on the Precious Rosary as an extensive tsok ritual.

Others take it as their main practice, doing the full practice daily or focusing on different sections each day. Two such monasteries, strictly devoted to the Rinchen Trengwa, currently exist in Bhutan.

The Precious Rosary is also ideal for group or solo retreats of 7, 14 or 30 days or longer. For all, however, it is a comprehensive path, containing all the elements of both Chöd and Vajrayana.

The Precious Rosary of Chöd Offerings is the most complete collection of Chöd practices we have, directly from the tradition of Machik herself. The legacy of the Precious Rosary consists of 21 additional texts, including six healing texts, several funerary or after-death guidance texts and so on.

Rangjung Dorjé, the Third Karmapa (c. 1300) collated these texts, correcting errors and ensuring that all extant texts were part of the Machik’s original Chöd tradition. Three hundred years later, Karma Chagmé (c. 1650) the famous Kagyu luminary, further polished the collection, preserving an accurate transmission to this day.

The Tibetan text or “pecha”, in its current version, contains over 170 folios.

Does anyone know of other translations? Based on the above information, it seems this is the cornerstone of the Chöd tradition, so one would think it's pretty readily available (unless it was the type of elaborate text which would normally only have been held at a monastery, or was reserved for only advanced practitioners). Can someone comment as to whether this was the case?

Incidentally, Lama Jigmé Jinpa was said to have been working on publishing his own translation, but this seems to have stalled even before the subsuming of Snow Lion Publications into Shambhala...

"The Sutras, Tantras, and Philosophical Scriptures are great in number. However life is short, and intelligence is limited, so it's hard to cover them completely. You may know a lot, but if you don't put it into practice, it's like dying of thirst on the shore of a great lake. Likewise, it happens that a common corpse is found in the bed of a great scholar." ~ Karma Chagme

"The Sutras, Tantras, and Philosophical Scriptures are great in number. However life is short, and intelligence is limited, so it's hard to cover them completely. You may know a lot, but if you don't put it into practice, it's like dying of thirst on the shore of a great lake. Likewise, it happens that a common corpse is found in the bed of a great scholar." ~ Karma Chagme

There is another translation. It was done by David Molk back in the 90s. He lost his original (crashed memory disc, I think) and I re-did it for him. He said it wasn't a brilliant translation as it was one of his earlier translations but I've found that the meaning for each section comes across clearly.

There's also a French translation that some of Kagyupa in France use. I don't know who did that and I don't have a copy.

Tsogley Rinchen Trengwa is actually a compilation, if you will, of a variety of "chod practices"--meant to be used as a recitation and meditation manual for the Intensive Retreat practice of Chod. This is the text that's normally used in 3 year retreat, near the end of retreat when everyone does All-Day Chod practice together, as a "Druppa." It's also done sometimes as a "stand-alone" extensive puja in the Karma Kagyu. There is another extensive Chod liturgy which is sometimes done by Karma Kagyupas as well, but I forget the name of it.

May any merit generated by on-line discussionBe dedicated to the Ultimate Benefit of All Sentient Beings.

conebeckham wrote:Tsogley Rinchen Trengwa is actually a compilation, if you will, of a variety of "chod practices"--meant to be used as a recitation and meditation manual for the Intensive Retreat practice of Chod. This is the text that's normally used in 3 year retreat, near the end of retreat when everyone does All-Day Chod practice together, as a "Druppa." It's also done sometimes as a "stand-alone" extensive puja in the Karma Kagyu. There is another extensive Chod liturgy which is sometimes done by Karma Kagyupas as well, but I forget the name of it.

Does that include the 8th Karmapa's commentary on the week-long Chöd retreat? The 17th Karmapa taught from it when he gave the wang for the first time in late October last year. It was requested by Lama Tsultrim Allione (recognized by Lama Wangdu as Machig's incarnation) and the event was hosted by the 8th Drukpa Dorzong Rinpoche.

"The Sutras, Tantras, and Philosophical Scriptures are great in number. However life is short, and intelligence is limited, so it's hard to cover them completely. You may know a lot, but if you don't put it into practice, it's like dying of thirst on the shore of a great lake. Likewise, it happens that a common corpse is found in the bed of a great scholar." ~ Karma Chagme

DenTok Chikma means "Enlightenment on one seat" and usually is a sort of genre of instruction, regarding condensing a large corpus of practice instructions into the essentials that can be done in a single session, or in a more condensed practice way....I haven't looked at that text, and can't right now, but I'll check it out later.

But it's not the same thing as the "second" Chod Tsok liturgy I was thinking of....I will get the name of that one, and post it later on, as well.

May any merit generated by on-line discussionBe dedicated to the Ultimate Benefit of All Sentient Beings.

I had a peek at the text you linked to...That is actually more of a "yidam practice," and it's separate from both "chod liturgies" that I'm talking about...Tsokley Rinchen Trengwa and the other one. That's an interesting practice, though.....

May any merit generated by on-line discussionBe dedicated to the Ultimate Benefit of All Sentient Beings.

conebeckham wrote:I had a peek at the text you linked to...That is actually more of a "yidam practice," and it's separate from both "chod liturgies" that I'm talking about...Tsokley Rinchen Trengwa and the other one. That's an interesting practice, though.....

Does it use a blue Dakini Machig as the yidam? If so, I have a translation.

"The Sutras, Tantras, and Philosophical Scriptures are great in number. However life is short, and intelligence is limited, so it's hard to cover them completely. You may know a lot, but if you don't put it into practice, it's like dying of thirst on the shore of a great lake. Likewise, it happens that a common corpse is found in the bed of a great scholar." ~ Karma Chagme

"The Sutras, Tantras, and Philosophical Scriptures are great in number. However life is short, and intelligence is limited, so it's hard to cover them completely. You may know a lot, but if you don't put it into practice, it's like dying of thirst on the shore of a great lake. Likewise, it happens that a common corpse is found in the bed of a great scholar." ~ Karma Chagme

conebeckham wrote:There is another extensive Chod liturgy which is sometimes done by Karma Kagyupas as well, but I forget the name of it.

Cone,you might be thinking of "Having All Qualities" (yon tan kun ldan), which is the Rinchen Trengwa-equivalent of the Surmang Kagyu tradition. For all those to whom that doesn't ring a bell: The Surmang tradition (Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche was the lineage holder of that tradition) is praised by Jamgon Kongtrul to be the purest source of the Chöd transmission of Machigma.Once I've heard a lama say that you would do the Rinchen Trengwa once a day, while you could do the Yöntän Kündän twice - shortening your retreat to perform the 108 Chöd feasts by half. I have not seen the text myself, but we learned Chöd along a commentary (named Crystal Mirror) of the Surmang tradition following the Yöntän Kündän. It structure is pretty much the same though seemingly a bit less text to recite. Hence the comment of the lama above.Hope that helps,Sagara

conebeckham wrote:There is another extensive Chod liturgy which is sometimes done by Karma Kagyupas as well, but I forget the name of it.

Cone,you might be thinking of "Having All Qualities" (yon tan kun ldan), which is the Rinchen Trengwa-equivalent of the Surmang Kagyu tradition. For all those to whom that doesn't ring a bell: The Surmang tradition (Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche was the lineage holder of that tradition) is praised by Jamgon Kongtrul to be the purest source of the Chöd transmission of Machigma.

Does JKLT say this in Treasury of Knowledge? If so, is that bit included in his summary of Chöd in volume 8 ("Esoteric Instructions")?

Have either the root text (Yönten Kunden) or the commentary (Crystal Mirror) been translated into English, or are they only extant in Tibetan? If the latter is the case, I have a translator friend who is close with HH Karma Chagme Rinpoche who has been looking to work with Chöd texts.

Edit: What's the Wylie for the commentary's title?

"The Sutras, Tantras, and Philosophical Scriptures are great in number. However life is short, and intelligence is limited, so it's hard to cover them completely. You may know a lot, but if you don't put it into practice, it's like dying of thirst on the shore of a great lake. Likewise, it happens that a common corpse is found in the bed of a great scholar." ~ Karma Chagme

i know it as Yonten Kunjung . Its the other style for thechod intensive in the three year retreat. What I was told wasb that the Tsurphus tyle is, is to do the Rinchen Trengwa , and the style of Kagyu in Kham is to use the Yonten Kunjung.

Karma Jinpa wrote:Does JKLT say this in Treasury of Knowledge? If so, is that bit included in his summary of Chöd in volume 8 ("Esoteric Instructions")?

Have either the root text (Yönten Kunden) or the commentary (Crystal Mirror) been translated into English, or are they only extant in Tibetan? If the latter is the case, I have a translator friend who is close with HH Karma Chagme Rinpoche who has been looking to work with Chöd texts.

Edit: What's the Wylie for the commentary's title?

The JKLT's quote I had in mind is found in the opening statements of his commentary on the short daily Body offering (lus sbyin), called The Garden of Sheer Delight (kun dga'i skyed tshal). From the translation of Ani Rinchen Palmo:" This [chöd] is a practice well known to all the ancient and modern schools, and there are a great many systems, yet this Surmang tradition is estimated to be a transmission with authority. It is also particularly outstanding for its meaning, due to its profound and vast instructions having continued without decline and because the authority of its realisation, experience, assurance and blessing has remained intact."

The Crystal Mirror (shel dkar me long) was translated by Ani Rinchen, too. Unfortunately it was never openly published. I don't know of any translation of Yöntan Kündän. This commentary would be definitively worthy of being made available to a greater audience, as it can be equally well used for both great chöd practice texts, the Rinchen Trengwa and the Yöntän Kündän.

lama tsewang wrote:i know it as Yonten Kunjung . Its the other style for the chod intensive in the three year retreat. What I was told was that the Tsurphu style is, is to do the Rinchen Trengwa , and the style of Kagyu in Kham is to use the Yonten Kunjung.

I think we are talking about the same text. The commentary (Crystal Mirror) gives Yöntän Kündän as the title of the practice text. What you say makes perfectly sense to me as Surmang monastery is located in Derge region of Kham, hence the influence of its practice style on the region. (Not the least also on JKLT; Palpung monastery where he lived is equally located in Kham).

conebeckham wrote:There is another extensive Chod liturgy which is sometimes done by Karma Kagyupas as well, but I forget the name of it.

Cone,you might be thinking of "Having All Qualities" (yon tan kun ldan), which is the Rinchen Trengwa-equivalent of the Surmang Kagyu tradition. For all those to whom that doesn't ring a bell: The Surmang tradition (Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche was the lineage holder of that tradition) is praised by Jamgon Kongtrul to be the purest source of the Chöd transmission of Machigma.Once I've heard a lama say that you would do the Rinchen Trengwa once a day, while you could do the Yöntän Kündän twice - shortening your retreat to perform the 108 Chöd feasts by half. I have not seen the text myself, but we learned Chöd along a commentary (named Crystal Mirror) of the Surmang tradition following the Yöntän Kündän. It structure is pretty much the same though seemingly a bit less text to recite. Hence the comment of the lama above.Hope that helps,Sagara

Found the following in Chö: The Garden of All Joy & Generosity of the Body

Kyabjé Tenga Rinpoche wrote:With regard to the contribution of Mahasiddha Karma Chakme, his best known contribution to the Chö practice of the Surmang tradition is the composition of a long or elaborate Chö feast practice, which is called Precious Garland or Rinchen Trengwa . The Rinchen Trengwa is based upon a previous Chö feast composed by the Third Gyalwang Karmapa, Rangjung Dorjé, which is called The Origin of All Virtue or Yönten Kunjung. If you look at the two texts, you will see that essentially Rinchen Trengwa is Yönten Kunjung with lots of additions.

What Karma Chakme Rinpoche did was he took the basic format and text of Yönten Kunjung and he added liturgical descriptions of all the visualizations, such as the mandala offering, the white feast, the red feast... all the particular visualizations which are part of every Chö practice. These are the two long forms of Chö practice that are emphasized in our tradition, the longer being Karma Chakme's complete text, and the slightly shorter being the original text of Lord Rangjung Dorjé.

"The Sutras, Tantras, and Philosophical Scriptures are great in number. However life is short, and intelligence is limited, so it's hard to cover them completely. You may know a lot, but if you don't put it into practice, it's like dying of thirst on the shore of a great lake. Likewise, it happens that a common corpse is found in the bed of a great scholar." ~ Karma Chagme